Studies on the behaviour and control of phlebotomine sandflies using experimental houses

Programmes for the control of phlebotomine sandflies (Diptera: Psychodidae), the vectors of leishmaniases, mainly target adults because larval breeding sites are generally unknown or inaccessible. To determine how blood‐questing sandfly females enter homes and to develop means for their control, an experimental house (EH) was constructed in a village endemic for cutaneous leishmaniasis. Initially, carbon dioxide (CO₂)‐baited suction traps were installed inside the EH to attract and capture sandflies. For other experiments, the windows of the EH were fitted with CO₂‐baited window entrance traps (WETs) that allow each window to be considered as a separate unit. The majority of captures inside the EH and in WETs consisted of Phlebotomus sergenti, a species that enters inhabited houses relatively infrequently. Analyses of collections in WETs and in sticky traps on external walls showed that sandflies entered windows having landed previously on the wall below or either side of the window. Shelves constructed below windows significantly reduced the numbers of sandflies that entered both the EH and inhabited houses. The lining of internal walls with insecticide‐impregnated fabric significantly increased mortality rates of sandflies captured inside the EH. To reduce the biting burden imposed by phlebotomine sandflies, several control measures must be integrated and sustained.     

A factorial design experiment as a pilot study for noninvasive genetic sampling

Noninvasive genetic sampling has increasingly been used in ecological and conservation studies during the last decade. A major part of the noninvasive genetic literature is dedicated to the search for optimal protocols, by comparing different methods of collection, preservation and extraction of DNA from noninvasive materials. However, the lack of quantitative comparisons among these studies and the possibility that different methods are optimal for different systems make it difficult to decide which protocol to use. Moreover, most studies that have compared different methods focused on a single factor – collection, preservation or extraction – while there could be interactions between these factors. We designed a factorial experiment, as a pilot study, aimed at exploring the effect of several collection, preservation and extraction methods, and the interactions between them, on the quality and amplification success of DNA obtained from Asiatic wild ass (Equus hemionus) faeces in Israel. The amplification success rates of one mitochondrial DNA and four microsatellite markers differed substantially as a function of collection, preservation and extraction methods and their interactions. The most efficient combination for our system integrated the use of swabs as a collection method with preservation at ?20 °C and with the Qiagen DNA Stool Kit with modifications as the DNA extraction method. The significant interaction found between the collection, preservation methods and the extraction methods reinforces the importance of conducting a factorial design experiment, rather than examining each factor separately, as a pilot study before initiating a full‐scale noninvasive research project.